Dark Money: The Hidden History of the Billionaires Behind the Rise of the Radical Right

Why is America living in an age of profound economic inequality? Why, despite the desperate need to address climate change, have even modest environmental efforts been defeated again and again? Why have protections for employees been decimated? Why do hedge-fund billionaires pay a far lower tax rate than middle-class workers? The conventional answer is that a popular uprising against "big government" led to the rise of a broad-based conservative movement.

The Race Underground: Boston, New York, and the Incredible Rivalry That Built America's First Subway

In the late nineteenth century, as cities like Boston and New York grew larger, the streets became increasingly clogged with horse-drawn carts. When the great blizzard of 1888 brought New York City to a halt, a solution had to be found. Two brothers - Henry Melville Whitney of Boston and William Collins Whitney of New York City - pursued the dream of his city being the first American metropolis to have a subway and the great race was on.

Andy says:"interesting journey"

Publisher's Summary

A lively history of the Watch and Ward Society - New England's notorious literary censor for over eighty years. Banned in Boston is the first-ever history of the Watch and Ward Society - once Boston's unofficial moral guardian. An influential watchdog organization, bankrolled by society's upper crust, it actively suppressed vices like gambling and prostitution, and oversaw the mass censorship of books and plays. A spectacular romp through the Puritan City, here Neil Miller relates the scintillating story of how a powerful band of Brahmin moral crusaders helped make Boston the most straitlaced city in America, forever linked with the infamous catchphrase "banned in Boston."

I'm Audible's first Editor-at-Large, the host of In Bed with Susie Bright -- and a longtime author, editor, journo, and bookworm. I listen to audio when I'm cooking, playing cards, knitting, going to bed, waking up, driving, and putting other people's kids to bed! My favorite audiobooks, ever, are: "True Grit" and "The Dog of the South."

Neil Miller is one of my favorite history writers— a gifted poet on the history of sexual liberation and suppression.

Miller's fascinating history of the New England Watch and Ward Society depicts their efforts to keep Boston free of lasciviousness and “vice.” Neil is a wizard of juicy anecdotes, period details, and the sort of narrative that puts the story in history.

The pre-curser to today's religious hypcorites were Boston's notorious "Watch and Ward." They excelled at kink while they were trying to "protect" Boston from prostitutes and "fantasies of urination."

Miller looks at the warring dogmas of free speech and puritanism that set precedence for legal and culture wars that we see unfolding today. If you want to know why Americans became famous for their absurd prudery, this is your map and compass.